


Fall in Together

by GhostGrantaire



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Season 2 predictions, Team Bonding, monster hunting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 17:21:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11764701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostGrantaire/pseuds/GhostGrantaire
Summary: When Steve Harrington opened his door at 9 PM Wednesday night, the last thing he expected to greet him was the anxious face of his girlfriend’s little brother.Inspired by the S2 clips of Steve in the tunnel with the kids





	Fall in Together

**Author's Note:**

> I was just wayyyy too excited about Steve hanging out with the kids to not write this. Reposted from my [tumblr](http://www.ghost-grantaire.tumblr.com).

When Steve Harrington opened his door at 9 PM Wednesday night, the last thing he expected to greet him was the anxious face of his girlfriend’s little brother.

“Steve!” Mike exclaimed. Steve kept frowning, looking around at the other kids standing behind Mike. Lucas and Dustin were there, along with that new girl that Steve knew to be Billy’s sister Max. The youngest Byers was nowhere in sight, but Steve wasn’t very surprised by that. They all looked nervous, staring at him with wide eyes and harried expressions. “Is Nancy here?”

Steve’s frown only deepened. “No, I haven’t seen her since school,” he answered slowly. Their faces all fell, and Mike looked terrified. “Mike, what’s going on?”

Mike met his eyes and with a sinking stomach, Steve guessed the words he was going to say right before he said them. “It’s Nancy. She’s gone.”

Steve felt a wave of nausea pass through his stomach, but he tried to stay calm. “What do you mean, she’s gone?”

Mike took a deep breath. “She was acting weird today after school, and now we can’t find her anywhere. And Jonathan’s been with his mom and Hopper all day, she’s not with him either. We think… we think she went to the gate.”

The hand that was still on the doorknob tightened dangerously and he felt the blood begin to rush from his head. “Nancy wouldn’t go there alone. She wouldn’t do that.”

He tried to ignore the loud mantra in the back of his head. Yes she would, yes she would, Nancy would do exactly _that, of course she would._

Mike frowned, his lips pursing. It was an expression he recognized from spending so much time around Nancy, and it was weird to see it on her baby brother. “Her gun’s gone, Steve.”

Steve felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. His chest filled with fear and he thought back to earlier that day at school.

He’d known something was up from the moment he saw her lingering behind the brick wall when she should’ve been in English. It hadn’t been hard to sneak away from class to go talk to her.

She hadn’t wasted time with pleasantries, immediately jumping into an explanation about how there was a new gate, she’d seen it, how there were new monsters, how something was wrong with Jonathan’s brother and how all of this was going to get worse unless they got down there first and stopped it, how she needed to do this.

The words had scared him, but mostly he was scared by how easily he believed her. He missed the days where he could have brushed stuff like that aside with a laugh and a joke.

 _Nancy, stop it._ He remembered how harsh he’d been, and how she’d gone quiet, blinking at him with wide eyes. He hadn’t been able to help the sharpness of his words. He was too worried, too terrified about what she was doing to herself. _You need to stop this, okay? You can march down there and kill every last monster there is, but it’s still not bringing her back. She’s dead._

She hadn’t said anything after that, and he didn’t blame her. He’d regretted the words as soon as they’d left his mouth. But he’d rather have her be pissed at him for being insensitive than see her kill herself over this fruitless mission of avenging her friend. He knew her too well to not understand that that’s what this was.

 _Look, we’ll talk later, okay?_ He’d said before walking away. He hadn’t looked back, but now he wish he had. Maybe then he would have seen the despair on her face fade into a sick determination as she made the decision to do it anyway.

He should’ve known this would happen. He couldn’t believe he’d blown her off like that– like he could ever stop Nancy Wheeler from doing what she wanted. Part of him was pissed at her, furious that she’d thrown herself into danger like that without thinking about how it would affect her family and friends. How it would affect him. He wanted to be angry at her, but mostly he was just terrified. 

He needed to fix this.

Steve suddenly remembered the kids standing in front of him, all watching with scared expressions. He took a deep breath. “How’d you guys get over here?”

They frowned. “We biked.” Dustin answered like it was obvious– maybe it should have been.

Steve nodded, his brain whirring as he tried to sort through his thoughts. “Okay. Just… wait here for a couple minutes and I’ll drive you all home. You shouldn’t be out there in the dark.”

He turned around and sprinted up the stairs. As soon as he was in his room, he grabbed his backpack and dumped out its contents before beelining for his closet.

He heard a chorus of footsteps storming up his stairs and he sighed in exasperation as the group of kids appeared in his bedroom door. He frowned in annoyance as they all glanced around, and winced when he saw Lucas and Dustin raise their eyebrows at the Heather Thomas poster by his bed. He really should have taken that down by now– but then again he didn’t expect to have a bunch of 13-year-olds hanging out in his room.

Mike was in front, looking extremely pissed.

“You can’t just ignore this, you asshole!” Mike cried and Steve flinched at the emotion in his voice. “You’re supposed to care about her. You’re supposed to protect her.”

There was a hidden meaning in that, Steve could hear it, but he didn’t know how to interpret it. He turned towards them, keeping his eyes on Mike.

“I’m not ignoring anything, alright?” He promised, turning back to his closet. He pushed the clothes on the rack out of the way and bent down, throwing aside old shoe boxes and stacks of clothes he’d meant to donate for months now. Finally he spotted a glint of metal and his hand closed around a familiar wooden handle.

All the kids took immediate steps back upon seeing the bat, and the redheaded girl in the back let out a loud “holy shit.”

Even Mike seemed taken aback. “Whoa,” he stammered. “Is that– from before?”

Steve nodded, keeping his eyes firmly on the weapon and trying not to remember too vividly all that had come with it before. He remembered a year earlier, offering it back to Jonathan awkwardly before the other boy had shaken his head firmly.

 _No, uh, it’s definitely yours,_ Jonathan had mumbled. _You deserve to keep it._

Steve hadn’t been exactly sure what to do with it after that. He’d thought about just scrapping it, but he’d never been able to follow through, and it was simply left in the back of his closet, away from his parent’s prying eyes. He had pulled it out occasionally, after rough nights or bad dreams just to run his fingers over it and remember what they’d done. There were faint splotches of blood on it– if you could even call what that thing had blood– but the stains simply helped remind Steve that they’d won. As time went on and the dreams became less and less frequent, he’d looked at the bat less. Holding it now was the first time he’d picked it up in probably about three months.

“You’re gonna help?” Mike asked quietly, keeping his eyes on the bat. “Really?”

Steve’s heart sank at the surprise in the young boy’s voice. “Of course I am,” he assured him. He was always going to help Nancy when she needed him, even if he tended to be a bit late in recognizing when those times were.

“So we’re doing this?” Max spoke up, and Steve paused at the wording. “We’re really going down there?”

Steve snorted, setting the bat down on the bed before turning back to his closet, grabbing a jacket and pulling it on. “ _I’m_ going down there. You guys aren’t doing anything. Like I said, I’m driving you home.”

There was an immediate chorus of protests.

“It was our idea!”

“You need our help!”

“She’s my sister!”

“You’re not coming with me,” Steve said, leaving no room in his voice for argument. He cast a stern glance at Mike, who was glaring back at him. “There’s no way I’m letting you guys do that.”

“Yeah you are,” Lucas said loudly, and Steve had to turn and frown at the confidence in his voice. The other kids shot their friend a curious look, but Lucas just shrugged like it was obvious. “Because you don’t know where the gate is. And we do.”

 _Fuck._ He hadn’t thought about that. Why couldn’t he have just asked Nancy where it was earlier?! Or better yet, why couldn’t he have just gone with her? “Yeah, well, I’ll figure it out.”

“That’ll take too long,” Mike pointed out. His voice was almost smug now, like he knew they’d won. “Nancy’s down there alone, and who knows what’s waiting down there? You don’t have the time to stumble around in the woods and hope you just fall into the gate.”

Steve raked a hand over his face. He’d already felt terrible about this, but bringing kids into the mix? He wasn’t qualified to watch over a bunch of pre-teens on a normal day, let alone on a goddamn rescue mission.

If Nancy knew he put her baby brother in danger’s way by bringing him to an evil alternate dimension, she’d never speak to him again.

Then again, if he didn’t find the gate in time and something happened to her while she was alone in said evil alternate dimension, she would really never speak to him again.

He looked up at the kids hopeful and anxious faces, taking a deep breath.

“Fine,” he grumbled after a long second. Their faces lit up, but he quickly raised a hand.

“ _But_ –” he continued, making them all pause. “I’m in charge. No funny business, no running off, and if it gets too dangerous or anyone gets hurt, I’m calling it off.”

Lucas, Dustin, and Max traded annoyed looks, but they all nodded anyway. Mike didn’t seem to care, a steady hope in his eyes that made Steve feel slightly nervous. He didn’t think anyone should be that excited about what they were about to do.

Steve sighed, looking past the boy to the other kids.

“The air’s supposed to be toxic, right?” Steve asked, looking around for confirmation. After he got some nods, he paused thoughtfully. “Okay, down in the garage by the bikes there’s a box of old swimming goggles and stuff like that. There should also be a box of gardening tools close by to that. Try to find some gloves or something.”

The kids nodded and turned to leave. Lucas and Max darted out the quickest, and Steve flinched at the sounds of them racing down the stairs, hoping they didn’t fall. “Oh, and don’t touch anything else!” He called before shaking his head. Mike was the last to leave, and Steve quickly stopped him.

“Mike, hold on,” Steve said, making the boy stop and turn, a puzzled look on his face. Despite his confusion, he made his way back to Steve, stuffing his hands in his pockets. Steve waited he heard all of the kids downstairs before speaking.

“You think she’s down there, right? Your friend?” Steve asked quietly, keeping his eyes on Mike’s reaction.

Mike’s eyes darted around and he chewed on his lip worriedly. It was answer enough for Steve.

“Look,” he started, hoping his voice conveyed his sincerity. “I know you wanna find her. I get that. But if something happens down there and we need to get out, you need to follow me. No staying behind and playing hero. If I tell you to run, you have to run.”

Mike’s eyebrows furrowed. “You’re not the boss of me. I can take care of myself.”

Steve sighed. The Wheelers and their goddamn loyalty and bravery was going to be the death of him. “Mike, if you get yourself killed down there, what good will it do? She wouldn’t want you to die for her. You know that.”

“But–”

“Mike, I’m not letting you get hurt on my watch,” Steve cut in. Mike’s shoulders slumped, and Steve could see the anguish in his eyes. “Look, I promise we’ll do everything we can. You just have to trust me, that’s all. Because if you’re just gonna start running off as soon as we get there, I’m not taking you. I’ll find the gate another way.”

“I won’t run off,” Mike said finally, and his eyes were honest. “I won’t. I want to find Nancy.”

Steve nodded, feeling a bit better about the situation, if only slightly. “We will,” he said confidently.

He wasn’t lying about that– despite all of the things he’d said to Mike about not dying for someone, he knew there was no way he was coming back from this mission without finding Nancy. No fucking way.

“Alright, here,” Steve said, handing him the handful of bandanas he’d fished out from a shelf in his closet. Mike quirked an eyebrow at him, unimpressed. “What? I don’t have gas masks. These are gonna have to do.”

Mike just snorted and shook his head, taking the bandanas. Steve threw some lighters into the backpack before tucking the bat into it, zipping it up so it wouldn’t jostle around too much.

When they got downstairs, his living room couch was covered in all sorts of stuff– goggles, gloves, flashlights, diving gear. He raised his eyebrows at the couple of crowbars perched on the cushion, but when he caught Max’s gaze, she just stared back unfazed.

“So what’s the plan?” Dustin asked slowly, looking around at them all. “Just storm in and start swinging baseball bats and crowbars?”

Steve let out a long breath and shrugged. “It worked before,” he said, hoping that sounded more inspiring than it felt. Anxiety was building in his chest, but he pushed it down. “Let’s go.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked it, please comment or reblog on my tumblr! I love reading what people think <3


End file.
